First thing in the morning I took the compressor in for service. The guys dropped what they were doing and went right to work on it. A couple hours later I swung back through and they showed me the piece they had replaced. It looked like some sort of bearing or clutch disc of some sort. I really have no idea, but it spins freely and the whole thing only cost forty dollars, so we’ll just have to see.

Then in the afternoon after the kids’ naps we took off for Sayulita. Ali’s entire family was already there waiting for us. We moved in to our new digs just up on the hill directly over the surf break and a two block walk to the town square. Sweet.

We had a nice evening together, Ali opened up our suitcase full of goodies, we had a really good dinner on the beach, and then everyone went to bed. Everyone except me. I had a rental car and an empty boat. Something needed to be accomplished.

Back at the boat I fixed up some cabling that was bothering me in the battery compartment, finished wiring up the alternator, and installed the compressor. Right away I noticed that the belt wasn’t sitting on the compressor correctly. The wheel that it sits in was all bent up, apparently from the guys that worked on it.

I left it on and started the engine to test out the alternator. It worked. Okay, good. Then the belt connecting the engine and the compressor flew off. Not so good. But not unexpected either. I crawled back in there with a big screwdriver and hammer and went to work. Surprisingly it bent back into shape fairly easily. I put the belt back on and fired up the engine again.

The belt stayed on for a minute so I went and turned the power for the refrigerator on. Immediately a loud metallic chainsaw type noise blasted out of the compressor. Power that back off and reassess. Okay, so it’s still broken. The question now is, did I just break it again by banging on it with a hammer? Or did what they think they fixed really not have anything to do with that noise? I’ve no idea at this point, and really don’t have a strong understanding of just what the heck happens inside that compressor when I click that power on anyway, so troubleshooting it is a bit tough.

It was nearly midnight and I had to drive back to Sayulita. End of refrigerator woes for the day.